With the somber shutdown of the Union Square retail icon slated for Dec. 31, a trip to The Chronicle’s archive was in order. A search turned up classic images and vintage advertisements from decades past that should spark memories for many readers.

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Gump’s was founded in 1861 as a frame and mirror shop, specializing in ornate wooden picture frames gilded in gold. The store was first known as Solomon Gump, and the namesake’s brother Gustave broadened the selection, to much acclaim. As the years passed, generations of the Gumps turned it into a store people could count on for quality, service and San Francisco appeal.

According to a 1988 Chronicle story, the store’s customers included French actress Sarah Bernhardt, who bought a 17th century bronze Chinese snake for a role as Cleopatra, and President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who bought ship models and smoking jackets.

For many years beginning in the 1960s, Gump’s and the other retail stores around Union Square decorated their windows for the holiday season. The Gump’s windows often were the biggest draw of all. Chronicle columnist Herb Caen summed it up in a Nov. 25, 1966, column: “The city waits for Gump’s Christmas windows each season the way it waits for S.F. Ballet’s ‘Nutcracker.’ Starting today, window shopping will be the greatest show in town.”

For decades, Gump’s was San Francisco’s top luxury retailer, but in 1993, it looked like it would be curtains for the business. Rumors circulated that the celebrated retailer was heading for bankruptcy. It had gone through several years of hard times, but it was bought by Horn & Hardart Co., which revived the store.

The new owners discontinued several product lines, holding a liquidation sale on May 24, 1993. Chronicle reporter Steve Rubenstein covered the event and talked to a longtime customer, who quipped, “The new owners say they will get rid of furniture, lamps and Asian antiques. ... That’s like McDonald’s discontinuing the sale of burgers and fries.” People flocked to the sale, grabbing ornate lamps and antiques at bargain prices.

Like many San Franciscans, my family has Gump’s memories. When my daughter was in her teens, we went downtown in mid-December to shop, check out the striking Union Square Christmas tree and get hot chocolate by the ice-skating rink. We wandered into Gump’s, and were blown away. Most of the items were out of our price range, but we did buy unique imported ornaments to hang from our tree.

•Be at peace: Here’s the story of how the Gump’s Buddha became a staple in Golden Gate Park’s Japanese Tea Garden.

•A holiday tale from the past: The Emporium in San Francisco closed more than 20 years ago, but the store and its holiday extravaganza live on in countless memories, as well as in this Dec. 23, 1995, column on the last Emporium Christmas.

•Ring it in: San Francisco is a city that likes to let loose on nights made for partying. New Year’s Eves in the 1950s were some of those nights. We have the photos to prove it.

Bill Van Niekerken is the Library Director of the San Francisco Chronicle. He does research for reporters and editors and manages the photos, negatives and text archives. He has a weekly column “From the Archive”, that focuses on photo coverage of historic events. For this column Bill scans and publishes 20-30 images from photos and negatives that haven’t been seen in many years.

Bill started working at the Mercury News in 1980, when nothing in news libraries was digital. Research was done using paper clippings, and cameras shot film. He moved to the Chronicle in 1985, just as the library was beginning their digital text archive.